27 March in history
8 events that happened on 27 March, from 1329 to 1980.
✦ Anniversary of the day
1329 CE 697 years ago
Pope John XXII condemns writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical
Pope John XXII condemned many writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical in the papal bull In Agro Dominico. Eckhart was a German priest, theologian, philosopher and mystic of the Dominican Order.
1513 CE 513 years ago
Juan Ponce de León sights Florida
Sailing north from Puerto Rico, Ponce de León sighted the coast he named La Florida, as it was the Easter season. He landed days later, beginning Spanish claims to the region.
1625 CE 401 years ago
Charles I becomes king on the death of James I
James I died at Theobalds and his son succeeded him. Charles's clashes with Parliament over money and religion led to civil war and his execution in 1649.
1782 CE 244 years ago
The Marquess of Rockingham forms his second British ministry
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, took office in Great Britain at the head of a ministry that began negotiations to end the American War of Independence. His second premiership lasted four months.
1977 CE 49 years ago
Two jumbo jets collide at Tenerife
A KLM 747 began its take-off in fog and struck a Pan Am 747 on the runway at Los Rodeos airport, killing 583 people. It remains the deadliest accident in aviation history.
1980 CE 46 years ago
Mount St Helens erupts for the first time in 123 years
A steam explosion blasted a crater in the summit of the Washington volcano after a week of earthquakes. On 18 May a massive eruption tore away its north face and killed 57 people.
Born on 27 March 4
Died on 27 March 9
Dates as the sources give them: in the Julian calendar before 1582, and in some countries for longer (Britain until 1752, Russia until 1918). Only people whose day of birth or death the records agree on are listed.